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Tuesday, 26 November 2013

Palakottai/Palaakottai or Jackfruit seeds podimas is an easy breezy curry we make often at home coz this dish curry or side dish take just few minutes to get ready if you have cooked jackfruit seeds at home. With usual spices, this podimas makes an excellent side dish to enjoy with a bowl of sambhar rice or hot piping rasam rice.Jackfruit seeds are used usually to make many dishes,they are added in many gravies or else fried and served as side dish.

Coming to this Podimas, this dish is quickly prepared with cooked and mashed jackfruit seeds. Peeling jackfruit seed's skin may be time consuming, but drying them for a day helps very much to remove the skin easily. Some may use pestle and smash the seeds lightly to remove the skin with minimum effort.My mom often makes this podimas whenever we jackfruit sees abundantly. This dish goes to Tamizhar Samayal Tuesday, an event happening twice a month.Sending to my own event Healthy Diet-Vegetarian Side dish guest hosted by Nandoos..

Sunday, 24 November 2013

Been born and brought up in Pondicherry, a beautiful seashore city i have been pampered by fresh seafoods. Obviously i miss those super fresh seafoods here. My mom makes seafoods twice a week either as gravies or as fries. My most favourite fish is always the small tiny anchovies, with which we make pakoras. If you visit Pondicherry,you should taste these fish pakoras or prawn pakoras we call them as kavapu, these sea food fritters are my grandma's signature dish.

Eventhough Anchovies are available in frozen food section, i'll never fail to get them from. This time i had a chance to get some large sizec anchovies, back home i prepared a Pondicherry style milagu kuzhambu aka peppered anchovy gravy. Love this gravy simply with hot steaming rice and papads, while typing itself my mouth is watering here.This dish is one of my mom's signature dish, which i cooked from my handwritten cookbook. If you want to make a different fish curry,give a try to this gravy.This gravy tastes fabulous after a day, so you can keep some aside to have them the next day with some idlies or dosas for breakfast.This post goes for the CC Challenge of the month.

Thursday, 21 November 2013

Tofu, the wonderful soya cheese is a versatile ingredient, which can be used as a replacer for eggs in bakes, in eggless desserts and also you can cook varieties of Indian style dishes. One among my favourite tofu based dish is tofu parathas, the addition of tofu makes parathas very soft and its our family favourite. Later after making a variety of foods with tofu, i prepared this nutritious,protein rich spicy masaledaar tofu bhurji with this incredible soya cheese.

Actually this dish makes an excellent side dish for rotis, also you can stuff your parathas with this incredible masala tofu bhurji. I crossed this dish from Sanjeev Kapoor's space, immediately i tried my hands with extra firm tofu sitting in my fridge.

Tuesday, 19 November 2013

Stuffed parathas are always my kid's favourite, my kids can have daily their parathas if they are stuffed with paneer or else with potato, as much as like their mom.Yes i love parathas very much, after soups and salads i'll make quite often parathas for our dinner.Coming to today's parathas, they are seriously very healthy,nutritious,fibre rich and omega rich, coz of rajma and flaxmeal i went for stuffing in this parathas. Addition of flaxmeal makes this parathas more interesting, none will notice the addition of this incredible small seeds until you reveal it.

Stuffed parathas suits prefectly to carry in lunch box, also this parathas doesnt need any side dish to have coz the filling is enough to enjoy this nutritious parathas.If you are in hurry, you can make your stuffing even a day before and make your parathas the next day easily. Mix and match the stuffing as your desire. Coming to this healthy parathas, they goes directly to this week's blogging marathon as i chosed to cook under Mess free tiffin box.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34. Sending to my own event Cooking with seeds-Wheat guest hosted by Priya.

Monday, 18 November 2013

How about adding whole grains in our kid's diet, make some finger foods stuffed with chocolate, am sure any kid can have it without any fuss. Chocolate attracts anyone and obviously i'll try to add them in most my dishes for the sake of feeding my kids with wholegrains. However till today, the addition of chocolates never disappointed me. These crescents rolls are approved as kid's friendly snacks by my kids. Yes my kids enjoyed thoroughly this ragi crescent rolls for their snacks. Pack these cute healthy ragi crescent rolls in your kid's snack box, am sure you will be surprised to see their empty snack box.

Sunday, 17 November 2013

Quesadillas are prepared with corn tortillas or with flour tortillas with a savoury filling with cheese or else with vegetable then folded in half to form a half moon shape. This is actually originated in Mexico and the name is derived from Spanish word. Quesadillas suits prefectly for your kid's lunch box, since these quesadillas have cheese in it, kids will go crazy if you make this fantastic tortilla sandwich.Stuff it with vegetables or with beans and vegetable filling, am sure anyone will love to carry in their lunch box.

Quesadillas can be eaten as a finger food,obviously its completely a mess free food to enjoy without any hesitation, since i chosed an interesting theme for this week's blogging marathon i dished out three different mess free tiffin box dishes. Yes the theme of this week's blogging marathon is Mess free tiffin box. Quesadillas makes a healthy and filling lunch box,obviously these vegetable stuffed quesadillas suits prefectly for theme.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Friday, 15 November 2013

The name of this sambhar itself is very interesting, definitely you will be curious to know more about this dish na?, yes i had the same feeling when i saw this sambhar in one of the Tamil magazine 'Sneghiti' supplement named 30 varieties of sambhar. Immediately i cooked this sambhar from that supplement book and trust me sour curd added in this sambhar gives a wonderful tanginess to the cabbage sambhar. Actually curd replace both the tamarind juice or lemon addition usually we go for making sambhar. Wat a wonderful way to finish the sour curds na, make this sambhar for a change with sour curd instead of making instant dosas or else avoid trashing the sour curds if you dont like or dont know how to make dishes out of them.

I served this delicious,mildly tangy sambhar for our lunch with a simple potato roast, you can enjoy this sambhar thoroughly with rotis or breakfast dishes like idlies or dosas. If you have cooked toordal in your fridge, this sambhar gets ready in a jiffy. This post goes for the CC Challenge of the month.

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Evening snacks are the best moment of the day for my kids, they love to devour a packet of chocolate biscuits to a plate of hot bajjis. Anything is welcome if its comes to snacks, dunno why they love their snack time this much. After some cheesy croquettes, here is an another favourite bajji tasted and approved by my lil one. He just hate eggplants but he love eggplants in bajjis, dunno what was in his mind. He can have a plate of hot eggplant bajjis without any fuss.

Obviously,if i want to feed him with eggplants, either i'll go for pan roasting or deep frying. This cut eggplant bajji is one of his favourite,since i chosed this week's theme as evening snacks am posting this addictive crispy bajjis which suits prefect for theme.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

Mochai aka Val beans or Field beans are well known beans among the South Indians. We make excellent gravy with them. This delicious mochai murungakkai kaara kuzhambu goes awesome as a gravy when served with rice and papads. Drumsticks gives a wonderful flavour to this kuzhambu, since i love adding potatoes in kaara kuzhambu i have added few cubed potatoes. You can skip it,but i love potatoes in tangy tamarind gravy. This mochai kuzhambu is an authentic dish of Tamilnadu,needless to say that this dish is often made at many households. This gravy can stay prefect for many days and tastes fantastic after a day.

If my mom makes this gravy, she will keep and serve this gravy atleast for three days and we love to have this fingerlicking kuzhambu from breakfast to lunch. Yes a day old gravy tastes simply awesome to enjoy thoroughly with hot steaming idlies or with crispy dosas. Personally this gravy is one among my favourite.Every 2nd and 4th tuesdays of the month, we a group of friends shares authentic dishes from Tamilnadu and the name of the event is Tamizhar Samayal Tuesday, please do check the announcement if you want to be a part of it.

Monday, 11 November 2013

Croquettes are finger foods usually shaped as cylinder, disk or oval shaped patties and they are deep fried Actually croquette is a french word and croquer means to crunch. Usually croquettes are made with mashed potatoes,ground meats,vegetables and cheese mixed with a white sauce and then breadcrumbs for coating.You can deep fry or shallow fry croquettes,it will depends upon you.I stuffed my usual potato croquettes with a piece of mozzarella, the melted cheese in this croquettes will definitely attracts kids and they can finish a plate in no time.

Croquettes makes a wonderful tea time snacks and a prefect snack dish for school going kids. The addition of cheese makes this deep fried beauties as calcium rich snacks, so a kid going kid can enjoy this croquettes with any spread.Today dish is my second entry for this week's blogging marathon and the theme of this week is Evening snacks.Some people add eggs in croquettes but mine is completely eggfree.

Sunday, 10 November 2013

Evening snacks are always my kid's favourite especially for my younger one, coz he loves to have some deep fried foods for his snacks. Since i dont like deep frying often,i'll go for bakes.But sometimes i'll change my mind and make some deep fried foods just to see the smile on his face. If its deep fried, he can have anything obviously i'll like to add veggies in most of the deep fried foods i'll serve my kids for snacks. One among these deep fried and vegetable loaded snacks is this cabbage pakoda.

This pakodas goes for a simple preparation with simple ingredients,usually i'll add onions in of my pakodas which i completely skipped here. I just went for finely chopped cabbage pieces and these pakodas with a cup of tea is just awesome. Crispy pakodas will definitely goes for a quick preparation and am sure you can enjoy thoroughly these crispy beauties. For the second week of blogging marathon,i chosed evening snacks as theme, these cabbage pakodas are going to be a part of this theme.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Friday, 8 November 2013

This pickle is sitting in my draft for a while, finally am posting it today. Pickle have their important place in our Indian menu,if you are serving a vegetarian feast to your guests your serving platter should have definitely a pickle in it. Every Indian household will have atleast a bottle of pickle definitely in their pantry either homemade or store bought. Pickle can come in secure when you dont have any side dish to have with rice or rotis. For me, a simple lemon pickle is enough enjoy with my bowl of curd rice or rotis.

Coming to this gooseberry pickle, i pickled them during summer with some super fresh gooseberries i picked from Indian grocery. Since i dont have patience to make the traditonal gooseberry pickle i went for an instant version which i picked from pickles, a cookbook i bought during my last trip in India. This instant version takes hardly few minutes to get ready and this pickle stays for a month in room temperature if they are conserved properly. But we finished this pickle within a week,a prefect side dish for curd rice.This post goes for the CC Challenge of the month.

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Corn is consider as both vegetable and grain, corn when eaten before they get mature is vegetable, once try they become a seed. Corn is highly rich in vitamin A, its a gluten free grain and its one of my main ingredient in many gluten free foods. When i chosed this week's of blogging marathon theme as desserts with vegetables, i know i'll be making a dessert with sweet corns. Earlier i was planning to make halwa with them and finally i went for this super delicious kheer, i used chironji seeds and blanched almonds to give more nuttiess to this excellent dessert.

This corn kheer can be enjoyed both chilled or warm, an excellent dessert to serve your sudden guests or to make as a special sweet for festival days. However i prepared this corn kheer few days back since i had some sudden guest at home. They simply enjoyed this kheer when they were warm and they loved it. If you want to make a different kheer just prepare this delicious kheer with sweet corn kernels.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Monday, 4 November 2013

How you ever prepared halwa with cabbage, but i did. Yes for the week's blogging marathon i chosed an incredible theme called desserts with veggies. After carrot kulfi, i landed towards one of the pungent smell vegetable Cabbage. Since i dont want to make halwa with carrots for this theme, i tried my hands in preparing this saffron cabbage halwa with full fat milk and ghee, trust me this halwa is just out of the world. I couldnt stop myself with a spoon and i finished half of the bowl i prepared and left the remaining to my betterhalf. If you want to make a different halwa, just give a try to this delicious cabbage halwa.

This halwa is prepared fully with ghee and whole milk, obviously its a rich halwa but personally i think to mask the odor of cabbage both ghee and whole milk plays an important role here. Dont feel guilty for adding ghee and whole milk. Also once a while its nothing harm to enjoy fatty sweets na..Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Sunday, 3 November 2013

Am starting today my first week of blogging marathon with an interesting theme, the theme of this week is desserts with veggies. We rarely make desserts with veggies but mostly we make desserts with fruits, obviously i dont want to go for the usual desserts with veggies especially with carrot as halwa or kheer. Seriously i started breaking my head to chose three different veggies and to make three different desserts with them. Thank God,my small brain worked fabulous and i prepared three different desserts out of three different vegetables.

For the first day,i chosed carrot;pre,ared this Indian kulfi with both finally grated carrot and crushed pistachios. Kulfi is a famous Indian chilled milk based desserts which is often prepared at home eventhough its a popular street food. My lil one who loves carrots, just enjoyed thoroughly this kulfi eventhough the weather is rainy here, trust me you have to give a try to this fantastic carrot kulfi coz this chilled desserts tastes absolutely fabulous..Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Friday, 1 November 2013

Breakfast are very important and they are must to start our day, but somehow i dont eat as like we do in India. My breakfast often goes for a bowl of cereals with a fruit, thats really enough for me to start my day. Obviously i do our Indian style breakfast dishes like dosas,idlies,upmas and pongals for our dinner. I'll do alternative them as per my kid's mood. Sometimes they will love to have just a bowl of soup with some bread and meats.

However my kids enjoy their Indian dinner, eventhough most of the time i'll insist them to take this kind of healthy upma. Coming to this healthy upma with moongdal and coconut, this dish is completely different from our usual upmas coz of the addition of moongdal and grated coconut.Coconut will change the flavour of this simple upma,while moongdal will add some protein to this dish. A super easy breakfast or dinner to enjoy with a spicy coconut chutney.This upma is from one of my mom's cookbook which she treasure from a long.
This post goes for the CC Challenge of the month.Sending to my own event Cooking with seeds-Wheat guest hosted by Priya.